Richard Florence
Practice Director for Digital Transformation
Entisys360
Entisys360 is officially launching its Digital Transformation Practice. Encompassing DevOps, IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS), and Big Data/Analytics, Entisys360’s Digital Transformation services are designed to help clients better align their technology initiatives with their business goals. We sat down with Richard Florence, Entisys360’s Practice Director for Digital Transformation, to learn more about these new services.
Q:How does Entisys360 define Digital Transformation?
At Entisys360, we define Digital Transformation as the integration of digital technologies and processes into all areas of an organization with the primary goals being to drive fundamental changes in the way the business operates and to increase the organization’s value to customers so that they can better compete within their respective markets.
Q: Why did Entisys360 develop a Digital Transformation Practice?
Through numerous conversations and interactions with our clients, we have learned that while many of them are looking for ways to better align their technology initiatives with their business goals, they often struggle to determine the best approach or first steps in such an endeavor. As such, we developed the Entisys360 Digital Transformation Practice to provide our clients with the guidance they need to select and integrate best-of-breed digital technologies within their businesses.
Q: What is the Entisys360 Digital Transformation Practice?
Today, Entisys360’s Digital Transformation Practice encompasses three areas: DevOps, IT-as-a- Service (ITaaS) and Big Data/Analytics.
DevOps, which can generally be defined as the collaboration of development and operations teams throughout the software lifecycle, is a very broad concept that requires multiple solutions and areas of expertise. Some of the disciplines that comprise Entisys360’s DevOps offerings within the Digital Transformation Practice include:
- Micro-experimentation
- SDLC optimization
- QA automation
- Microservices design
- Code refactoring
ITaaS is typically a prerequisite to a successful DevOps initiative. ITaaS focuses on the ability of IT operations to deliver specific services to the business in a methodical, predictable and efficient manner. Within this discipline, Entisys360’s Digital Transformation Practice focuses primarily on the following:
- Cloud design and patterns
- Service delivery
- Application blueprinting
- Cloud consumption models
- Hybrid cloud architecture
- IT automation
- Cloud security models
Big data is a term commonly used to describe the ability to capture, store, format, manipulate and analyze large amounts of data that are so massive they exceed the capability of traditional data processing systems. Entisys360’s big data offerings within its Digital Transformation Practice are:
- Modern data lake architectures
- Digital business platforms
- Enterprise data strategy
- Real time decision making
Q: How are the services offered through the Digital Transformation Practice different from the Entisys360’s core offerings?
The digital transformation projects are typically more far-reaching than what we provide our clients through our traditional core offerings, meaning that they touch more parts of the client organization. As a result, the first phase of our digital transformation methodology focuses on project goal alignment across all stakeholders from multiple business units and departments. Not only is it important for them to all agree on the goals of the project, but they must all understand each other’s role in the project and how the project affects each department.
Furthermore, unlike traditional IT infrastructure projects, digital transformation solutions change the way a business does things versus just changing the thing they use to do it. The ability to easily change based on the needs of the business is also a key feature in most digital technologies available today.
Q: Who is the ideal customer for Entisys360’s Digital Transformation offerings?
It’s important to understand that there isn’t a specific market vertical or company size that makes the ideal use case for digital transformation. In fact, most organizations can increase their competitiveness within their respective industries through digital transformation. The key in any digital transformation initiative is that an organization maps their technology deployments to defined business goals and objectives.
Q: Why should Entisys360 clients care about our new Digital Transformation Practice?
The disruptive nature of digital transformation is reshaping industries all around us. Think about the way Airbnb has changed the way we book hotel rooms, how Uber has altered the way that we hail a taxi service, or how Netflix is transforming the way we consume television. All of these disruptive market entrants revolutionized their industries and ultimately provided better products and services for the customer.
For Entisys360 clients, digital transformation is about providing a better experience for their customers, while at the same time fulfilling a dream long-held by many organizations for making IT a competitive differentiator.
Q: What is involved in a typical Digital Transformation engagement with Entisys360?
Engaging with Entisys360’s Digital Transformation Practice is a multi-phased process.
The first phase of the project includes a client workshop where our goal is to get a full understanding of their business requirements, provide education about the various digital technology solutions that can meet those requirements, and establish alignment with all key stakeholders in the project. This up-front alignment is key to ensuring that everyone understands value the Digital Transformation project will bring to the company as a whole. Furthermore, it is also important that the executive sponsor of the project be involved every step of the way, as without their support, the project could be placed in jeopardy further down the line.
The second phase of the project is the “envisioning phase,” which consist of multiple interviews with stakeholders to understand the client’s current environment, processes, systems and pain points to get a clear picture of what types of projects, not specific technologies, are needed to address the stated business requirements. Some high-level design also occurs in the phase.
The third phase is the design phase. Here the Entisys360 team establishes what the overall technology solution will be and determines tradeoffs (i.e. cost vs. benefit) between certain technologies that satisfy the business requirements. The goal is to balance functionality with ease of use, design, cost and available support. During this phase, we will also develop a project plan and formulate the logistics.
The next phase of the project is the implementation of the technologies and processes that make up the project. It’s important to understand that at Entisys360, we don’t consider implementation the final phase. We encourage a continual improvement approach to the solution over the course of ongoing business cycles. Since business requirements are constantly evolving, so should the solutions that support those requirements.
Q: Who from my organization should be included in our first meeting with Entisys360?
The first meeting for our team is typically with the executive sponsor of the digital transformation initiative. In our experience, we have found that working from the top down helped us more easily understand the business drivers and align the various groups within a company around common goals and business objectives.
Q: How can an IT organization learn more about Entisys360’s Digital Transformation Practice?
Entisys360 is committed to helping our clients maintain the maximum value of their virtualization and cloud investment, and to freeing up their team members to focus on more strategic business initiatives. Organizations looking to achieve these objectives can contact Entisys360 directly at DigitalTransformation@entisys360.com or they can also visit our website at www.e360.com for more information on our services.
